Catalyst for preparing unsaturated acids and aldehydes



United States Patent Int. Cl. B01j 11/82 U.S. Cl. 252437 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Catalysts useful for the oxidation of olefins to unsaturated aldehydes and unsaturated carboxylic acids comprise molybdenum oxide, tellurium oxide and a uranium phosphate.

This is a division of application Ser. No. 483,801, filed Aug. 30, 1965 now U.S. Patent 3,401,196.

This invention relates to new and useful catalysts and to a method of preparing unsaturated aldehydes and unsaturated carboxylic acids by oxidation of unsaturated hydrocarbons at an elevated temperature, and relates more particularly to catalysts comprising a mixture of a molybdenum oxide, tellurium oxide and an uranium phosphate in a molar ratio of 100 M00 '100 TeO and 10-100 of an uranium phosphate and to a method of preparing acrolein and acrylic acid, or methacrolein and methacrylic acid by passing vapors of propylene or isobutylene and an oxygen containing gas over the catalyst at a temperature of from about 325 C. to about 550 C. The catalyst can also be designated as with the P being in the form of a phosphate i.e. each P is attached to 3 or 4 oxygen atoms.

Numerous attempts have been made in the past to prepare products of higher oxidation state from hydrocarbons, especially from the normally gaseous hyrocarbons. However, all prior catalysts and procedures for oxidizing monoolefinic gaseous hydrocarbons to monoolefinically unsatured aldehydes or monoolefinically unsaturated carboxylic acids with the same number of carbon atoms as the hydrocarbon having serious shortcomings. The catalysts either have a very short active life, or they convert only a portion of the hydrocarbon to desired end groups per pass; they oxidize the hydrocarbon excessively to form high proportions of carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide or both; they are not sufiiciently selective, so that the hydrocarbon molecule is attacked at both the olefinic unsaturation and at a methyl group; or the oxidation of the olefin does not proceed beyond the aldehyde stage.

It is therefore unexpected to find a catalyst having unusually long life that will convert a substantial amount, more than 50% per pass, of a gaseous monoolefin such as propylene or isobutylene to yield very high proportions of acrolein and acrylic acid, or methacrolein and methacrylic acid. It is also unexpected to find a catalyst that produces a wide ration of olefinic aldehyde to monoolefinically unsaturated carboxylic acid by controllable changes in reaction conditions or catalyst composition. M01 percent efiiciencies of about 60 for the aldehyde and about 20 for the unsaturated carboxylic acid have been obtained with the catalyst and process of this invention. Usually when the efiiciency for conversion of the hydrocarbon to aldehyde is high the efiiciency for the conversion to acid is low and vice versa. This provides a degree of flexibility 3,509,069 Patented Apr. 28, 1970 in the process, so as to provide means for obtaining a product mix that is needed at any particular time during commercial operation:

THE REACTANTS The essential reactants are (1) propylene or isobutylene and (2) an oxygen containing gas, which can be pure oxygen, oxygen diluted with an inert gas, oxygen enriched air or air without additional oxygen. For reasons of economy, air is the preferred oxygen containing reactant.

For the purpose of this invention the hydrocarbons which are oxidized can be defined generically by the formula wherein it is also apparent that the end products formed result from the oxidation of only one methyl group on the hydrocarbon molecule while the terminal CH =C remains intact.

Stoichiometric ratios of oxygen to olefin for the purpose of this invention are 1.5 to 1. Slightly lower amounts of oxygen can be used at a sacrifice of yield. It is preferred, however, to use 33 to 66% excess oxygen. Larger excesses do not impair the yields of aldehydes and acids, but for practical considerations an excess much above would require extremely large equipment for a given production capacity.

The addition of steam into the reactor along with the hydrocarbon and oxygen containing gas is desirable but not absolutely essential. The function of steam is not clear, but it seems to reduce the amount of carbon monoxide and dioxide in the efiiuent gases.

Other diluent gases can be used. Surprisingly, saturated hydrocarbons such as propane are rather inert under the reaction conditions. Nitrogen, argon, krypton or other known inert gases can be used as diluents if desired but are not preferred because of the added cost.

THE CATALYST AND ITS PREPARATION There are several methods for the preparation of the catalyst, which can be supported or unsupported. It is possible to dissolve each of the starting ingredients in water and combine them from the aqueous solutions or the ingredients can be dry blended. Because of the more uniform blend obtained by the solution procedure, it is preferred.

The general procedures for preparing a catalyst from watersoluble ingredients is to dissolve the requisite amount of a molybdenum salt, a tellurium salt and an uranium salt in water. Add the requisite amount of phosphoric acid to the uranium salt solution. Add the tellurium salt solution to the molybdenum salt solution and then add the uranium salt-phosphoric acid mixture to the molybdenum-tellurium salt mixture. The catalyst is then dried and baked at 400 C. for about 16 hours.

Supported catalysts can be prepared by adding a dry support or an aqueous slurry thereof to the aqueous solution of catalyst or the aqueous catalyst ingredients can be added to the slurry of the support.

Alternatively a slurry of the catalyst ingredients can be prepared in water, then dried and baked. For supported catalysts the aqueous slurry of the catalyst ingredients can be added to an aqueous suspension of the support or vice versa, and then dried and baked.

Another method is to blend the dry ingredients of the desired particle size and then mix them thoroughly. Thorough blending and uniform particle size is desired.

A specific example of the solution method is now set forth.

(1) Add 50.9 g. of molybdic acid to 100 grams g. of an aqueous colloidal dispersion of microspheroidal silica in a concentration of 30-35% Si (Ludox H.S.).

(2) 15.96 g. of TeO is added to (1).

(3) Dissolve 40.18 g. of UO (NO .6H O in water and add 9.24 g. of 85% H P0 Add this mixture slowly to the mixture of (1) and (2).

.Dry on a steam bath and bake for 16 hours at 400 C. Thereafter, the catalyst is ground to the desired mesh size and sieved.

Among the suitable supports are silica, silica containing materials, such as diatomaceous, earth, kieselguhr, silicon carbide, clay, aluminum oxides and even carbon, although the latter tends to be consumed during the reaction.

The exact chemical structure of the catalysts made by the above procedures is not known, but catalysts with molar ratios of 100 Mo, 10-100 Te and 10-100 of an uranyl phosphate can be used for oxidizing the monoolefinic hydrocarbon to aldehyde and/ or carboxylic acid. The catalyst contains chemically bound oxygen so that the generic formula can be written as or other uranyl phosphate The phosphate can be a P0; radical, a pyrophosphate, or a polyphosphate.

REACTION CONDITIONS The reaction can be carried out in either a fixed or fluidized catalyst bed. I

The reaction temperature canrange from about 300 to 450. C. for the oxidation of propylene but the preferred range is from about 350 to about 425 C. Below 350 C. the conversion per pass is lower and low temperature tends to produce more aldehyde than desired. 'Usually, a longer contact time is needed at lower temperatures to obtain the yields of desired Productsobtainable at higher temperatures. Above 425 C. in the propylene oxidation some of the desired end products appear to be oxidized to carbon oxides. This is much more apparent to 450 C. For isobutylene, oxidation temperatures of 375-550 are desirable with the preferred range being 300-450 C.

The molar ratio of oxygen to propylene or isobutylene should be at least 2 to 1 for good conversion and yields. Some excess oxygen, 33 to 66 mol percent is even more desirable and is preferred. There is no critical upper limit as to the amount of oxygen, but when air is used as the oxygen containing gas it becomes apparent that too great an excess will require large reactors, pumping, compressing and other auxiliary equipment for any given amount of desired end product. It is therefore best to limit the amount of air to provide a 33 to 66% excess of oxygen. This range provides the largest proportion of acid, under given reaction conditions. Also, since care is needed to avoid an explosive mixture, the limiting of air aids in that direction.

The molar ratio of steam to propylene or isobutylene can range from 0 to about 5 to 7, but best results are obtained with molar ratios of about 3 to 5 per mol of olefin and for this reason are preferred.

The contact time can vary considerably in the range of about 2 to 70 seconds. Best results are obtained in a range of about 8 to 54 seconds and this range is preferred. Longer contact times usually favor the production of acid at any given temperature.

The particle size of catalyst for fixed bed operations used is from 10-18 mesh. As is known, for fixed beds, the size may be of a Wider range particle size. For fluid bed systems the catalyst size should be from 80-325 mesh ('U.S. sieve).

The reaction can be run at atmospheric pressure, in a partial vacuum or under induced pressure up to 50-100 p.s.i. Atmospheric pressure is preferred for fixed bed systems and a pressure of 1 to 100 p.s.i. for fluid bed reactions. Operation at a pressure which is below the dew point of the unsaturated acid at the reaction temperature is advantageous.

The data in the examples show that wide variations in percentages of unsaturated acids and aldehydes can be obtained with a single catalyst, using fixed ratio of reactants by changing the temperature and/or contact time. Further variation is obtainable by controlling the other variables in the reaction including the catalyst compositions within the limits set forth herein.

The examples are intended to illustrate the invention but not to limit it. t

THE EXAMPLES A series of runs was made in a fixed bed reactor of a high silica (Vycor) glass tube 12 inches long and 30 mm. outer diameter. The reactor had three inlets, one for air, one for steam and one for propylene. Three external electrically operated heating coils were wound on the reactor. One of the coils extended along the entire length of the reactor and each of the remaining coils extended only about one-half the length of the reactor.

Outlet vapors were passed through a short water cooled condenser. Uncondensed gases were passed through a gas chromatograph (Perkin-Elmer model 154D) and analyzed continuously. The liquid condensate was weighed and then analyzed for acrylic acid and acrolein in the gas chromatograph.

The reactor was filled to about of its capacity with 170 ml. of of a catalyst made by the solution method described above, using a ratio of 75 M00 25 TeO and 10 (UO P O Empirically the catalyst is and the P is present as P O The catalyst was not supported and had a mesh size of 10-18 (US. sieve).

Steam at a temperature of 200-250" C. was first passed into the reactor. Then propylene and air were separately fed into the stream of water vapor. This mixture then passed through a pre-heater and entered the reactor at about 200-250" C. The reactor was pre-heated to about 285 C. before the gas feed was begun.

The ratio of reactants was about 2.955 mols of oxygen and 4.5 mols of steam per mol of propylene. Cold contact time was 20.4 seconds.

The reaction temperature was varied as the reaction proceeded.

The table below summarizes the data obtained in these runs:

Mol percent Yield on propylene converted percent, Temp, propylene O. converted Aer. =Acr01ein. AA=Acryl1c Acid.

M01 percent efficiency Aer.

6 References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS UNITED STATES PATENTS 839,808 6/1960 Great Britain.

23 90 1 19 Eden 252 437 PATRICK P. GARVIN, Primary Examiner 3,383,330 5/1968 Kang 252437 5 US Cl. 3,412,135 11/1968 Eden 252-437 XR 260533, 604 

